St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-01-20
A MOTHER DISCUSSES SUFFRAGE
". z. Witness.


First, would it on the whole be i
benefit for women to vote?
Second, do the women really want
the suffrageP
Now, | want to give my humble
opinion about both. In the first in
stance, the very fact, if there was evil
dence that woman was going to have
the ballot, would cause great com
motion in our country. The very hope
of it would cause IA feeling of JOY
through the whole being of the broken
hearted wives and mothers of our land.
Hope would make rift through the
black clouds of want and sorrow, for
they would feel like the mariner in
the terrible storm that we sing OF
when he first saw the star of Bethle-
hem. Oh, how | do wish | could make
the whole world understand what that
Joy and hope would be to so many of
our worthy women! There would be
SO much of real .'benetit" to a large
share of homes just for the courage it
would give them to wait a little longer;
to feel that the feet of their loved ones,
who had stepped on the inclined plane
whose lower end was in coulter dark
ness, where there is weeping and
gnashing of teeth" might be saved il
woman could only vote. If there was
no other benefit that could come that
would well pay for giving her the
ballot.
Another sensation would be the dy
Mantle bomb thrown into the ranks of
the rumseller when he felt his Oulde-
strOying business lifted up and out of
Inv Ln old nf
the new voting force.
The second is: Does she want it
Every good cause has been unpopular
in starting. 1t has been so, ever since
the promise was given to our first pa
rents, that the Saviour would bruise
the head OF serpent. No matter how
great and good, if it has for its object
a glorious reform for our world. it
must feel the "bite at it's heel" 1t
must be so, it ever has, but when the
work of great reform is of God, the
bitten one will bind up the wounded
heel and fight till it cOnquers. | know
full well there are thousands of the
very best women of America, that to-
day are sending urgent prayers to
heaven, that are lodged with the ''souls
under the altar of God, adding power
to the cry, GLOW long, o Lord, dost
Thou not avenge us on the demon
rum, that blasphemes our God and ru-
ms our homes and country ~ And
still, these women do not want the
ballot. They know and feel that the
men who can vote should Danish this
monster from us. If they could only
realize that God requires US sometimes
to help answer our own prayers, they
might feel not only to ask, but to pray
earnestly for it.
Only few years ago convention
of distillers and brewers in Chicago
resolved "That in all the ways pOssi-
BILE they would oppose woman's suf-
frage, for if they got the ballot their
business would come to an end" This
alone should make every woman that
is true to God and home and native
land reach out her hand for the ballot.
feel as though the greatest reason
why our very best women do not ask
for the ballot is because they say chad
women will vote" Do they realize
that there is not a bad woman unless
there is a bad man somewhere to make
her so? If women had the ballot and
would Danish liquor from our country
there would be but few bad men COM
paratively to what there are now.
For every man redeemed from drink
ing liquor we cannot tell the number
of women that would become pure and
vote right. How our noble women are
coming to the front in our national
temperance work We all rejoice
that our Frances E. Willard came to
the "kingdOm in such time as this"
Who knows how many Frances Will
lards are now in our schools and col
leges of learning, making ready to put
on the harness and take up the work
of those who are now bearing the bur-
den imposed upon them by our men
voters who dare not use the GOd-given
power to Danish liquor.
There came a time when military
necessity came to our armies, and the
slave was made free. Must there come
political necessity, when woman
must take the ballot to keep our ma
ton from a drunkard's gravel AL
ready there may be a Moses among
the wOrkingmen, who, with shoes off,
is standing before the "burning bush"
while he hears, 81 have seen the affiic
ton of My people," who are enslaved
by alcohol, and "have come down to
deliver them. And in some way, if
not our way, will provide way it
shall be DONE"